Dozens of women join ranks of the world's richest billionaires

The number of female billionaires has risen by a third over the past year,
representing 138 of the record high of 1,426 billionaires globally.

Among the 34 new female entrants on the Forbes Billionaires rankings for 2013 are the designer Tory Burch, 46, the second-youngest, self-made female billionaire in America, with a net worth of $1bn (£662m).

Among the 34 new female entrants on the Forbes Billionaires rankings for 2013 are the designer Tory Burch, 46, the second-youngest, self-made female billionaire in America, with a net worth of $1bn (£662m). The world's richest woman is Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old heiress to a 30pc stake in cosmetics group L'Oreal, with a fortune of $30bn. A surge in the value of L'Oreal shares over the past year has put the heiress, ranked at number nine, back among the world's 10 wealthiest for the first time since 1999.

The world's second richest woman is Christy Walton, from the US, who inherited her husband John Walton's stake in Wal-Mart when he died in a plane crash in 2005. Her fortune is estimated at $28.2bn.

Men still dominate the Forbes rankings. Mexican telecoms tycoon, Carlos Slim, remains the world's richest person for the fourth year in a row, with a net worth of $73bn, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates with a fortune of $67bn, and Amancio Ortega, 76, the founder of the Spanish fashion chain Zara, who is worth $57bn.

Mr Ortega, the year's biggest gainer, has added $19.5bn to his fortune over the past 12 months to leapfrog Warren Buffett into third place, despite the Berkshire Hathaway founder adding $9.5bn to his fortune. This is the first year since 2000 that the Sage of Omaha, who last week described his investment company's 2012 performance as "sub par", has not been among the world's richest top three.

The aggregate net worth of the world's billionaires is now $5.4 trillion, with 210 new ten-figure fortunes. Many new names on the list come from the world of retail, including the Diesel Jeans mogul Renzo Rosso at $3bn, and retailer Bruce Nordstrom at $1.2bn.